180
by Eternal Love Trance
Summary: Carmelita begins acting weird, and Sly and the Gang don't know why. Untill she comes to them, not bearing her police badge. When Sly has a new teamate to train, things get pretty weird, and much more fun for the racoon.
1. Trigger Happy Fox

**Well, first things first. This idea came to me so randomly. After I kinda read about the ending of Sly Cooper 3 Honor Among Thieves, and I heard about Sly suposedly 'giving up' being a thief to be with Carmelita, (Which I don't think was his best bet, so I'm just gonna pretend like it never happened.) I thought, "What if Carmelita changed sides to be a thief?" and so thus this fanfic was born!**

An electric bullet exploded at the racoons feet. Just inches from his tailbone.

He jerked away from the blast, and turned to look at the cop who had just shot at him.

She didn't look very happy with him. Not happy at all. Nowhere near.

In fact, she was enraged.

"I'll get you, Cooper! I will!" she yelled.

Sly shot Carmelita a smile, and dashed around the corner and through the safehouse door.

Into pitch black.

"Sly? Sly, is that you?" Bentkey's voice came from the other end of the room.

"Yeah, it's me. Why is it so dark in here?" Sly asked, shifting the weight of the bag on his shoulder, and setting it onto the ground.

"I think Miss Fox shot out the power box," Bentley said.

"Well, I suppose that figures. She was shooting everywhere, as long as I had touched it," Sly smiled, and Bentley sighed, knowing he gotten a kick out of it.

"Well... I'm not sure what we can do about it. Not with Inspector Fox out there, mad as a rampaging bull," Bentley told Sly.

"That's fine, we can live one night in the dark. But, where's Murray?" Sly asked, looking around, even though he couldn't see anything.

Then something huge fell. "...Right here!" Murray said.

"Did you just fall off the ladder, Murray?" Bentley asked.

"Yup," Murray replied.

"Why was he on a ladder?" Sly asked, slowly walking forward.

"The curcuit breaker is up on the highest point of the wall," Bentley said, sounding annoyed by that fact.

'Whoever designed this place obviously thought everybody could fly!" Sly joked.

"I supose... But next time, don't make Carmelita so mad she goes trigger happy," Bentley said.

"Hey, I didn't **make **her go trigger happy! When it comes to me she always goes trigger happy," Sly said, remembering the last time Carmelita had almost shot him.

"Okay, then don't go near our curcuit breaker next time," Bentley said.

"How was I suposed to know what a curcuit breaker looked like?" Sly laughed.

"Looks like, Sly," Murray tried correcting Sly, not seeing what Sly thought had become of the curcuit breaker.

"Looked. If Carmelita shot it, it's a pile of melted goo now," Sly couldn't hold back a laugh as he said that, finding that thought extremly funny.

"Not funny, Sly," Bentley warned the racoon. "Without the curcuit breaker, we have no power, and no way to plan heists. We need to fix it. We need to get rid of Carmelita first, though,"

"Well, the only way to avert her, is to use me as bait," Sly sugested, thinking that idea to be quite nice.

"No, Sly. She'll just melt something else," Bentley said.

"Then what can we do about her?" Murray asked.

"Hmmm... I think I may have an idea! What if I lured Carmelita away with my bombs?" Bentley said.

"That might work... But you might not beable to reach where the bomb landed in time to throw another," Sly proposed a very good point; Bentley wasn't the fastest of turtles.

"That's where I'll need you. If I can cling to your back, you can carry me from rooftop to rooftop, so that Carmelita won't give up on what it was, and return to the safehouse so soon," Bentley explained.

"And what will you need me to do?" Murray asked, still underneath the fallen ladder, but nobody but himself knew that.

"You're going to stay here. If we loose Carmelita, you'll tell us where she is," Bentley told the hippo, though he really didn't know if he was talking in the right direction.

"How will I do that?" Murray inquired.

"By taking a post on one of the taller bulidings around here, just look for Carmelita if I tell you we've lost her," Bentley replied.

"Sounds like a plan. But what are we gonna do to fix the curcuit breaker? That plan will only get rid of Carmelita," Sly pointed out.

"Good point..." Bentley trailed off, realizing that he had missed a detail.

"I think we could buy one..." Bentley began.

"Broke, remember?" Sly said.

"Then you'll just have to do what you do best; steal," Bentley said.

"I'm on it! I'll go out the back door, just tell me where to go," Sly said.

From there, things began to get weird.


	2. A Hand From the Princess

**Here's chapter two! I hope you guys like it! It might be one of my longer chapters I've written in the past. Enjoy guys!**

Sly slid out the back door, to be greeted by none other than Inspector Fox.

"C-C-Carmelita!" Sly stuttered.

"I'm not here to arrest you, Cooper," Carmelita said, rasing both her hands up like a convict, showing Sly she didn't have her gun.

"Then why are you... here?" Sly asked, taking in the filthy alleyway they were in.

"To... help you... While waiting for you to come back, I couldn't help but notice that I shot out your curcuit breaker..." Carmelita's face began turning red.

"Oh, that! Yeah, don't worry about that. I was just going out to... fix it," Sly said, brushing by Carmelita, running his hand down her arm and winking at her.

"Didn't I just say that I wanted to help you fix it?" Carmelita stopped Sly by grabbing his arm and pulling him around to face her.

"Why would you want to help...me? A thief? Isn't it your life's work to put me behind bars?" Sly asked, shrugging out of her grip.

"Yes..." Carmelita said. "It w... is..."

"Then why am I not in shackles yet? In the slammer?" Sly asked, genuinely confused, not understanding Carmelita's sudden kindness to him.

"I told you! I want to help you fix the curcuit breaker I broke! Even you guys shouldn't have to sit in the dark," Carmelita snapped. "Now follow me! I know where we can get a new one,"

"Well... I was just gonna steal one..." Sly admitted, shrugging and smiling wide.

"Well... Um... If that's what you want to do, Cooper. I can... Cover your back for you if you want me to," Carmelita's words sounded forced out one by one, like a robot processing a document of forgein words.

"Yeah.. Sure... But... Won't Interpol come, and recognize you?" Sly asked, concerned for Carmelita's career.

"I'll just pretend to shoot at you," Carmelita winked at Sly.

"Well... Alright..." Sly was hesitant to agree, but, it would be easier if he had some cover.

"Alright. On three you'll go one way, I'll go another, pretend I've just checked you for any stolen loot, and I'm warning you, then go and steal your part. I'll follow close behind," Carmelita told Sly.

"Got it," Sly replied.

"One... Two... Three!" Carmelita said, and Sly began walking to the right of the alleyway, into the crowed Paris streets.

"Remember! You're just off the hook for now! Next time you make off with something I won't be merciful!" Carmelita yelled, much too loud.

"Got it, Miss Fox!" Sly called back. He slid through the streets, breathing in the cool air in Paris.

He slid through another backalley. _I wonder when Carmelita learned to be sneaky... _Sly thought. He peered around the corner of a dust covered building, and upon seeing the coast was clear, he dashed into the hardware store.

"Hello, welcomes to Dave's Hardware! How may I help you today?" a leopard man around the age of fifty was at the door, and held it open for Sly.

"Uh... I need a new curcuit breaker... Ours... Burned out..." Sly lied, not wanting to explain for why it was shot and melted.

Alrighty. We do installations you know," the leopard added, showing Sly the way to the right isle. The leoapard man wore kacki overalls with a white shirt underneath, and black military style boots. It didn't match. It looked... Well... Tacky.

"No thank you. My friend knows how to install it. He's good with that kind of thing," Sly told the man.

"Okey dokie, kido," the guy said. He would have been tall, if it weren't for his slouch, which made him not much taller than Sly. His orange fur had faded into a gray-orange tone, and his eyes were squinted together with small glasses perched atop his wrinkled nose. Wrinkles were present at almost any visible point on his face and hands, and it was hard for Sly to see what color the man's eyes were, but after some sdudying, Sly decided that they were a yellow-orange color, the color his fur should have been.

He led Sly down the isles, and they passed the right isle at least five times.

The man began rambling about his kids, and Sly, though not listening would ocationally say "Uh-huh," "Okay," "I see" "Right," or "Interesting," just to spare the guys feelings.

Over the blabbing, Sly heard someone clear their throat behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder to see Carmelita wearing a beige jacket and hat. She glared at him from under the large rim of her hat, as if to say 'Hurry up, Ringtail! Your pals are gonna wonder what's taking you!'

Sly nodded slowly and looked around nobody but him, Carmelita, and the leopard guy were around. Sly suddenly had an idea.

He looked into the guys' back pocket, and saw his wallet. _Alright, that'll do... _he thought. He carefully slid his left hand over, and slipped the guys' wallet out, shoving it into his pouch.

Sly looked behind him at Carmelita. She nodded.

Sly silently cleared his throat and yelled with fake concern "Sir! Somebody just made off with your wallet! He ran that way!" and pointed the opposite way of the isle Sly needed to get to.

"Who? Wuzzuh? My wallet! Get back 'ere you thief!" the leopard yelled, and ran the way Sly had pointed.

Sly laughed as the guy ran off, he ran funny, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

Carmelita was suddenly next to Sly. "Good work, Ringtail,"

"Thanks. It was easy. The guy wouldn't have noticed if I took off his glasses!" Sly laughed.

"True. Now hurry! Get the part and split!" Carmelita said, and slid down a random isle, pretending to look at lightbulbs and extension cords.

Sly dashed down the right isle, grabbed the curcuit breaker he was looking for, and bolted for the door.

"Where is 'e? Where is 'e!" the leopard guy was still hunting for the fake wallet thief.

Sly smiled, and ran out the door, and the alarm bell rang.

It didn't take Interpol long to get there, due to the police station being only next door to the hardware store.

Police cars, helicopters, men on foot, Interpol had sent in everything.

Carmelita caught up to Sly fast. She yelled his last name followed by varied threats to make it seem as if she was shooting at him, even though she was shooting at her own forces.

_This is pretty nice of Carmelita to help me steal something... I've gotta find out why sometime. _Sly thought as he ran down the crowded streets of Paris, people running and screaming away from him.

A cop car was hot on Sly's tail, literally. If Sly had slowed down for only a milisecond, he and his tail would have been roadkill.

Sly looked behind him at the cop car, and Carmelita fired afew shots out of her gun at it. A tire blew out, and the car skidded across the road into a fire hydrant.

Carmelita quickly winked at Sly, then yelled "Cooper! Get back here!" to make her forces think that she aimed wrong, and hit the wheel of the cop car.

Sly smiled and winked back. "Not in a million years, princess!" he yelled.

Then Carmelita stopped dead in her tracks.

"SLY! WATCH OUT!" she yelled on the top of her lungs.

But it was already too late.


	3. My Dirty Secret

**Chapter three! Yea! I'm working on making my chapters longer, but this kind of acts like a filler chapter... 'Till we get into the action, ya know! Just to make things longer and more suspenceful! Enjoy my torture of Sly! **

Tires screetched, and **BAM! **A police car that had tried to cut Sly off from his running path slammed into the unexpecting racoon.

Sly let out a startled painful yelp as he was thrown backwards, through the air. The curcuit breaker slid out of his hands, and across the ground, onto the sidewalk, but remained intact.

Sly's cane flew out of his hand, and hooked onto the top of a lighting post, but nobody noticed it.

Sly hit the top of three cop cars before landing on the ground.

Carmelita was at the battered racoon's side in only a seconds worth of time.

"Ringtail! Cooper! Sly... **Can you hear me? **Answer me, Sly!" Carmelita shook Sly, but he didn't respond.

Everything around them was silent.

"Call an ambulence! Don't just stand there! Call 911! Call the hospital! Call someone!" Carmelita was nearly in hysterics, and was screaming at everyone, demanding they do something for Sly.

"Sly... Please... Live..." Carmelita whispered, looking at Sly's bleeding face.

Someone was then talking over the phone. "Yes... Uh.. Yes. We have a... racoon hit by a car in his atempt to steal a piece of electronics... Uh... Sly Cooper. Yes, Sly Cooper. S-l-y C-o-o-p-e-r,"

Knowing that help was on the way for Sly, Carmelita sat down on the ground, and pulled Sly to her, hugging his body to her chest with one arm, the other holding her up. She could feel his heartbeat, it was broken and faulty, but at least he was alive.

"Sly... I hope you can hear me... You'll be okay, Sly. You hear me, Sly? You'll be okay, the paramedics are coming, you'll be okay," Carmelita whispered into Sly's ear, nobody noticing her talking to the unconcious racoon, most everybody just staring at her odd show of affection towards him.

"It's okay, Sly. Nothing's gonna hurt you anymore, you'll be fine, it's okay... It's okay..." Carmelita continued whispering to him untill the paramedics arrived.

They quickly strapped Sly to a stretcher, and carted him off to the ambulence.

Carmelita qickly stroked his head before letting them take him from her.

"Stay alive for me, Sly..." she said.

Carmelita watched the ambulence drive away, horns blaring. She sighed, and walked to the sidewalk, and picked up the curcuit breaker. She examined it. It looked like it was in one piece, still useable.

Carmelita turned around. "I'm... I'm going to get Sly's gang. They'll all go to jail after this. I'll return the breaker afterwards," she said, and made her way between the cop cars, following the trail of Sly's blood. In the middle of it, Sly's hat lay, splattered in blood.

Carmelita picked it up off of the ground, and held it close to her chest, blocking it with the curcuit breaker.

"God... What am going to tell his gang?" Carmelita muttered.

After hiding around the corner of the gang's safehouse for awhile, not sure of what to tell Bentley and Murray, Carmelita finally stood in front of their door.

Carmelita sighed, and knocked on the door.

Murray answered the door. "Miss Fox!" he gasped.

"I'm not here to arrest you..." Carmelita said, holding back tears as well as she could.

"Then why are you here?" Murray asked. "And where's Sly?"

"That's why I'm here. Where's the turtle?" Carmelita asked.

"Bentley! Inspector Fox is here!" Murray yelled.

Bentley came to the door, and asked his first immediate question. "Where's Sly?"

Carmelita sighed, and lowered the curcuit breaker, using it as a 'plate' for Sly's bloody hat.

Both Bentley and Murray gasped.

"No... He can't be..." Murray whispered.

"How did this happen?" Bentley asked.

"He's not dead you morons! He was hit, by a cop car. They were trying to cut him off of the path after he stole this curcuit breaker, and they flew around the corner too fast, and they hit him," Carmelita explained.

"Where is he?" Bentley demanded.

"He's in a hospital. Don't worry, they'll take good car of him there," Carmelita replied, stroking the edge of Sly's hat.

"Will he be okay?" Bentley asked.

"I don't know for sure, but I think he will be," Carmelita replied. "But... Here..." Carmelita held out the curcuit breaker and Sly's hat to them. "I'll let you get away with it,"

"You're...Letting us **steal **this? Why?" Bentley asked.

"Because... You deserve it... After I shot out yours... And Sly got hit by the car of one of my co-workers, you deserve it. Just don't tell anyone I gave this to you. I'll just tell the others that I acendentally dropped it in the water. They'll belive me, hopefully..." Carmelita sighed, pushing the curcuit breaker and the hat closer to them, insisting that one of them take it.

Bentley slowly took the two objects from Carmelita, even though she wanted to keep ahold of Sly's hat untill she could see him again.

"Carmelita... Since we all would like to see Sly. Would you like to stay untill I can get this curcuit breaker installed?" Bentley offered.

"Um... Sure... How long will it take you to install that breaker?" Carmelita asked.

"Well... It's too dark to do it now, even if I had a flash light, it would be too dark.. But, I'll beable to do it first thing in the morning," Bentley said.

"Alright. On that note. How about I come back at, say... Nine O-Clock tomarrow morning?" Carmelita sugested.

"Sure," Bentley said.

"Okay. I'll see you boys tomarrow. I'll just tell the other officers that you escaped me, okay?" Carmelita said, and stepped away from their door.

"Alright... We'll see you tomarrow..." Bentley said, doubting that Carmelita wouldn't arrest them later.

Carmelita nodded, and turned around, heading back to the Interpol office.

"Are you sure we can trust her?" Murray asked, once Carmelita was out of earshot.

"I don't know... But it seems that she's very shaken up about Sly being hit by that cop car... I don't think she'll hurt us. Not this time," Bentley replied, shutting the door.

"Well... If you say so..." Murray said, feeling around for a chair, it being too dark to see anything.

Bentley slowly made his way to his desk, and set the curcuit breaker, with Sly's hat still on it, next to his laptop.

"We'll just have to wait untill tomarrow to find out, won't we?" Bentley said.

"I guess so," Murray agreed.

Carmelita walked through the doors of the Interpol office. Most of the units that had been chasing Sly were there.

Carmelita looked around at them. "Is he okay?" she asked.

"He's injured badly, but he should be fine in a week or two," one of the officers told her.

Carmelita nodded. "His gang got away from me, made me drop the curcuit breaker in the water while I was chasing them," Carmelita lied, walking past them into her office.

"Are you going to arrest the Cooper gang, though?" the same officer asked.

"Yes, I will. I don't think it's really fair to arrest them when Cooper is injured this bad," Carmelita replied, putting her gun and police badge in a drawer on her desk.

"I'm going home now. I'll see you guys at... I'm not sure... I have some errands to run in the morning, I'll be in as soon as I can," Carmelita said, closing and locking her office door.

She walked out of the Interpol office, and headed downtown to her house.

At nine-O-clock sharp, Bentley and Murray were scared out of their wits by Carmelita nearly banging on their hideout door.

"I'm coming! I'm coming! Geez..." Bentley yelled, getting up and opening the door.

"I'm here. I told you. Nine in the morning, and here I am," Carmelita said.

"I know, Carmelita. Come in," Bentley held open the door for her.

Carmelita slowly stepped inside the hideout.

Bentley shut the door once she was inside. "Let me go get the curcuit breaker," Bentley said, walking over to his desk, and getting the curcuit breaker from under Sly's hat. The blood had dried on the hat, it would take some cleaning in order to get it off.

"Follow me, unless you want to stay here and wait, you don't have to come and watch," Bentley said, a little bit unsure why he said that, but wanting to trust Carmelita at that moment.

"Would you mind if I borrowed your sink? I'd like to try and get the blood off Sly's hat," Carmelita asked.

"Go ahead. Murray, come with me, we've got to install this breaker!" Bentley grabbed his toolbox and the turtle and hippo headed outside.

Carmelita sighed. She grabbed Sly's hat off of Bentley's desk, and headed to the sink.

She pushed the sink plunger down, and filled the sink with warm water.

She held Sly's hate close to her while waiting for the sink to fill up.

"I hope he really will be okay..." Carmelita whispered, then mumbled something even she didn't want to remember saying.

She stood there, thinking about Sly, untill she realized that the sink was full of water, and if the water was left running any longer, the sink would have overflowed.

"Oh!" she gasped, and turned off the water. She grabbed a bottle of soap, and poured some of it into the sink. She slowly submerged Sly's hat in the water, and used her fingers to try and scrub off the blood. That didn't work, so she dried her hands on her pants, and went outside to find Bentley.

"Hey... Do you guys have anything I can use to scrub off the blood on his hat?" Carmelita asked, finding asking that question very strange.

"Under the sink," Bentley replied.

"Okay. Thanks..." Carmelita truned around and headed back inside.

"Did she just say 'Thanks'?" Murray asked.

"I think she did," Bentley replied.

Carmelita opened the cupboard under the sink, and found a rough sponge, perfect for scrubbing stubborn blood off of the hat.

She pulled it out, and drenched it in soap, the started to scrub the blood off.

Sly's blood came off slowly, peeling off like paint, or dried glue.

When Bentley finished installing the surcuit breaker, Carmelita was still fighting to get the blood off of the rim of Sly's hat.

"I'm almost done here! His blood is as stubborn as he is!" Carmelita growled as she continusly scrubbed at one of the last spots of blood.

Bentley and Murray laughed about her 'stubborn blood' joke, even though it wasn't intended to be a joke.

"That's okay, we can wait," Bentley said, and headed to his computer, to test out the new curcuit breaker.

He hit the 'On' button, and the computer began running.

"Yes!" he exclaimed.

"Good! Now get some lights on in here!" Murray demanded.

"Gladly," Bentley said, and flipped the light switch on, and the whole place was flooded with light.

"How's that cleaning coming along Carmelita?" Murray asked.

"Good... I'm almost done here... Just a little bit more. Can one of you get a towel so I can dry this thing?" Carmelita asked.

"Sure," Bentley replied. He went into the small room they called a bathroom, and fetched Carmelita a towel. He returned to the kitchen, and set it next to her.

"Thank you," she said.

Bentley was getting freaked out. Carmelita was being so nice to them. What was up with her? He wanted to know, but he wasn't going to pry.

"Got it!" Carmelita said, pulling the plug out of the sink, and gently ringing out the hat, then dab-drying it with the towel.

It was still a little bit damp, but dry enough. Sly wouldn't mind, he just be glad to have it back. She knew he had this thing with hats...

"Okay... Are we ready?" Carmelita asked, holding Sly's hat to her chest.

"I think so," Bentley said.

Carmelita breathed deep. She was afraid of what kind of condition Sly would be in.

She slowly pushed the door open, and walked in. Bentley and Murray followed.

The whiteness of everything was blinding, but Carmelita had only eyes for Sly.

The battered racoon was asleep, and snoring softly.

Carmelita walked over to Sly. She stroked his head, and put his hat under his left arm, that was draped lightly over his chest.

The three sat there for a while, waiting for Sly to wake up.

Seeing Sly so weak made Carmelita start to tear up.

"Are you okay, Carmelita?" Bentley asked.

"Yes... I'm fine..." Carmelita whispered, wiping her eyes.

"Then why are you crying...?" Bentley inquired.

"Oh.. It's.. I..." Carmelita suddenly burst into tears. "I love him! I love him!" she cried, burying her head in her hands.

"You... Love him?" Murray looked at her quizically.

"**Yes**! I love him!" Carmelita cried.

Both Bentley and Murray were speechless.

Carmelita kept sobbing for a moment or two, before Sly started to wake up.

"Hnuh?" Where...?" Sly groaned, making his best atempt to move.

"Carmelita raised her head to look at Sly.

"Sly..." she breathed, then jumped from her chair to hold him. "Sly! Sly... Sly!" Carmelita pushed her face into his neck, hugging him tight.

"Huh? C-C...Carmelita...?" Sly stuttered, quite surprised that she was hugging him like that.

"Oh, Sly! Don't you ever scare me that way again! If I lost you, I wouldn't know what to do!" Carmelita wailed.

"Huh? What...?" Sly started at the top of Carmelita's head.

"I love you, Sly Cooper! I love you! Please don't ever scare me like that ever again!" the words just slipped out of her mouth.

"You... What...? You love me...?" Sly lay there, paralysed.

Carmelita rubbed her head into Sly's chest. "I love you, Sly!" she looked up at Sly's stunnd eyes.

Sly's expression suddenly softened. "I...I love you too,"

**Awwwwwwwwww! How sweet, yes? I'm sorry for the wait. Haven't been on here in months! So, here's chapter three!**


	4. Guns and Tires

**Grr... I'm so sorry I haven't updated this in God knows how long. I logged into my email one day and found so many emails related to this story it was crazy! So here's the next chapter. I hope you guys like it. **

The room seemed to go quiet after that. Aside from Carmelita's sobbing and the numerous machines connected to Sly's body, you could have heard a pin drop.

"Carmelita..." Sly whispered, breaking the silence.

Carmelita looked up at Sly, tears running through her fur.

"Don't cry," and he kissed her.

The whole populance of the room was expecting Carmelita to pull away, slap him, smash his head into the cardiac pacemaker, something to punish him for kissing her.

Instead she kissed him back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tight.

Bentley and Murray were disturbed by the scene, and they both turned away.

Carmelita eventually released Sly. She rested her head on his chest and sighed.

It was right about then that Sly started really figuring out where he was. He was in a hospital, he was hooked up to machines, he was in pain...

His cane was missing.

"Carmelita..." Sly said her name yet again.

"Yes?" she looked up at him again.

"My cane. What happened to it?" Sly demanded.

Carmelita straighened herself a bit so that she was sitting next to Sly. "Your cane... Oh, God... I don't know! I didn't see where it landed!"

Bentley and Murray turned back to look at them.

"I saw it fly out of your hand, but I didn't see where it went! I was too busy demanding that someone help you!" Carmelita explained.

"Great... Could you go back to that place and look for it?" Sly asked.

"Of course, Sly. Anything for you!" Carmelita eased off the bed.

"We'll help!" Murray volunteered.

Bentley wasn't too sure about it, Carmelita could be sneaky in her own way, but if they wanted Sly's cane back, he'd have to put aside his fears.

"We'll find it, I promise, Sly!" Carmelita headed for the door, Murray and Bentley following close behind.

"Good luck. And thanks," Sly said.

Carmelita smiled and walked out the door.

Finding Sly's cane proved to be no problem. Neither was getting to it.

They returned to the spot where Sly had been hit, his blood dried on the black pavement.

It was easy to spot the cane, hanging from the street light it had hooked on the night before.

"Up there!" Carmelita looked up at the cane.

"How'd it get up there?" Murray asked.

"It flew out of his hand when he was hit. Must have made it fly and hook up there. At least the street lamp caught it, right?" Carmelita said.

"How are we gonna get it?" Murray questioned.

"Easy," Carmelita said. She moved to the wall of the building the street lamp was in front of. She found a foothold on it's surface, and began pulling herself up the side of the building.

Once on top of the building, she grabbed the top of the street lamp and vaulted herself forward to hang from the street lamp. She adjusted the grip of her left hand before letting go of the pole with her right to grab Sly's cane.

She made sure nothing was under her and let go of the street lamp, landing perfectly below.

"See? Easy," Carmelita dusted her hands on her pants, shifting Sly's cane from one hand to the other.

"Miss Fox?"

Carmelita turned around to see one of her co-workers, Leanne, standing behind them.

"Y-Yes?" Carmelita took a small step backwards, nervously glancing at Bentley and Murray.

"What are you doing?" Leanne was a young, sleek tabby cat with almond shaped eyes and long blonde hair. She had piercing blue eyes, and thin framed glasses. Her attire usually consisted of halter tops and jeans, but she can ocassionally be seen in a dress or two.

"Um..." Carmelita didn't know how to respond. She had just been caught helping two criminals recover the cane of their leader. What **could **she say?

Murray edged towards the team van.

Carmelita saw him moved and flicked her tail towards him to say _Get in tha van, and get ready to go! _

Leanne reached into her back pocket for her comunicator, ready to call in.

Carmelita spun on her heels and ran for the van. Murray was alread inside, and Bentley picked up on the plan quickly.

They vaulted the back door open and jumped inside. Carmelita closed the doors.

"Drive!" Carmelita yelled.

Murray slammed on the gas and drove forward.

Leanne was confused, but couldn't deny the situation at hand. She grabbed her communicator and started following the van.

"Code... Red? Two members of the Cooper gang escaping from retreival of leader's cane. Aided by Carmelita Montoya Fox," she unsurely spoke Carmelita's name, not sure if she really had just seen what she thought she had.

"Did you just say Carmelita?" the man on the other line asked.

"Yes, I did," Leanne rounded a corner.

"I'm sending in a unit," and the line went dead.

Wasn't long before five cop cars were hot on the tail of the Cooper van.

"Geez... I'm being hunted by my own team!" Carmelita mumbled. "Fine..."

Carmelita handed Sly's cane off to Bentley. "Get in the front,"

Bentley did as she said, but wondered what she had planned.

Carmelita readied her shock pistol, and opened the van's back door, and opened fire on the wheels of the cop cars.

"What's she doing back there?" Murray quietly asked his partner.

"She shooting the wheels of her own forces cars..." Bentley was astonished that Carmelita would go to such lengths to help Sly. Then again, she had admitted that she loved him...

Murray made a hard right, and Carmelita was jolted left, a shot from her gun causing a water hydrant to explode.

She repositioned herself, and aimed at another tire. The closet car already had one flat tire, but was still hot on their tail.

Murray pulled the van left around another building, and Carmelita was thrown right.

Carmelita aimed a shot at the car's second front wheel, and fired. The wheel blew, and the driver was forced to pull over and let his comrades continue the chase.

"Where are we going?" Murray asked.

"Just keep driving! I've got to get them off our tail before we can go anywhere safe!" Carmelita called back, scraping the side of the second car with a bullet. She never knew how hard shooting from a fast moving point at a fast moving target was.

The car Carmelita was currently shooting at had Leanne riding shotgun, and the cat was confused beyond comprehension.

Carmelita shot at the tire again, but hitting a speed bump caused it to aim high and skim the top of the car, taking off the red flashing light.

Another shot hit the right front tire, and the police car swerved, allowing Carmelita to shoot the other tire, causing that car to retire to the curb as well.

The next cop car closed in, and Carmelita decided to try a new tactic.

She aimed a bullet towards the top of the car's front window, and shot.

The bullet sailed through the window, shattering it.

The driver, who couldn't see and had to close his eyes to svoid getting glass in them, slammed the brakes, and the car came to an abrupt stop.

The road behind them was clear. Carmelita had sworn that there had been five cars, though.

"Woah!" The van swerved left and Carmelita was thrown into the side of the van. She grabbed the back of the passenger seat, and looked out the front window.

The other two cars had tried to cut them off.

Murray made a sharp right, and Carmelita clung to the seat.

That put the two cars behind them again, and Carmelita returned to shooting from the van doors.

Two well placed shots and one car was rendered useless. Two more, and they were home free.

Carmelita searched the streets carefully before closing the back doors.

"Phew... That was close! Alright Murray, let's take Sly's cane back to him," Carmelita sighed, leaning against the wall.

"They'll be looking for us, so having the van out isn't such a good idea. I think we should take the van back and use the back alleys to get to the hospital.

"That might work better," Carmelita agreed.

Murray turned left back towards the safehouse.

**Oooh, lookie! Tire shooting action! I hope you guys like this chapter. I've probably gotten better since the last time I updated this story. **


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